Instant Pot Refried Beans – Vegan, naturally gluten-free, Creamy, flavorful and effortless way of making refried beans at home in Instant pot/pressure cooker.
It is a base and side dish for many Mexican Dishes. Making vegetarian refried beans at home in the instant pot is pretty easy and You can make a big batch so you can feed a large crowd. It freezes well too.
My family is a Mexican food lover and I make Mexican dish at least twice a week. Our favorite Mexican dishes are Crunch Wrap Supreme, Quesadilla, Burrito wrap, Enchiladas, Mexican casserole, etc.
For many Mexican dishes, the base is refried beans and I make these Instant Pot Refried Beans few time a month.
They are Versatile, less expensive, Lard free, much better than the canned ones, and hearty that can be used in many dishes.
What beans are used to make best-refried beans recipe?
To make refried beans in Instant Pot, I prefer Pinto beans. They are creamy, tender and has earthy flavors.
They mash so easily and makes them perfect to make refried beans.
If you don’t have pinto beans on hand, you can use black beans.
There are two ways of making Instant Pot Refried beans.
Soak Method/Pre-soaked beans
I prefer a soak method over the no-soak method. My Grandmother used to tell us that soaking legumes before cooking them reduces intestinal gas which is caused by the increased Vata of legumes. Soaking and cooking right helps in digestion legumes properly. It will speed up the cooking process and reduces the cooking time.
First, soak them in hot water for at least 3 hours. The cooking time of pre-soaked beans is 20 minutes under high pressure in instant pot.
No Soak Method.
Sometimes, It happens that we forgot to soak beans or we are in a hurry or some guests are coming for dinner, at that time No-soak method comes to rescue.
In this method, simply wash the pinto beans with 2 to 3 times, and cook them for about 50 minutes under high pressure in instant pot. You can add spices and other ingredients at the same time. Please look for No-soak beans method in the recipe card.
How to make Homemade Instant Pot Refried Beans Recipe?
First, Soak the pinto beans for at least 3 hours in hot water.
Drain the water and keep beans aside.
Now heat oil in instant pot, add bay leaves, garlic, and onion.
Saute for a few seconds.
Now add Soaked Pinto beans, water, salt to taste, red chili powder, taco seasoning, and roasted cumin seeds.
Cover the IP locking lid, press the manual/pressure button for 20 minutes, vent valve on sealing position.
Once cooking time is over, let the pressure release naturally, it will take about 25 minutes.
Open the lid, drain all the water in a separate bowl (Don’t throw the water).
Now mesh them with an immersion blender. Add some saved water and blend them well until desired consistency. Check the seasoning. Add more saved water if needed.
That’s it!
Instant Pot Refried beans are ready. So easy, delicious, creamy and simple!!
How to Freeze these Instant Pot/Pressure cooker refried beans?
First, make the beans as per instruction. Then cool them completely. Portion into a quart sized or serving sized resealable freezer bags. Then remove all the air from the bags gently. Store in the freezer flat.
If you don’t like or prefer to use plastics to store the beans, you can use Mason jars too or other glass storage containers.
To thaw the refried beans, take them out from the freezer a night before and place it into the fridge. Or if you are in a hurry and forget to take it out the night before, take hot water in a large tray and place the frozen bag of refried beans.
Instant Pot Refried Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cups - Dried beans
- 4 cups - water + more for soaking
- 2 tablespoon - oil
- 2 - Bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon - Grated garlic
- ½ cup - Chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon - Taco seasoning
- ½ tablespoon - Red chili powder According to your taste
- ½ tablespoon - Cumin powder
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Pre-soaked method
- First, take pinto beans and wash them well.
- Boil 6 cups of water. Switch of the flame. Add rinsed pinto beans.
- Soak them for at least 3 hours. Drain the water.
- Heat oil in the inner pot of IP.
- Now add bay leaves, garlic, and onion. Saute for a few seconds.
- Now add soaked pinto beans, 4 cups of water, salt, chili powder, cumin powder, and taco seasoning.
- Stir well, cover IP with locking lid, press the manual/pressure button for 20 minutes, vent valve on sealing position.
- Once cooking time is done, let the pressure release naturally.
- Open the lid. Drain excess water in a separate bowl. DONT discard the water.
- Now take the cooked beans in IP inner pot.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the beans until smooth and creamy, slowly and gradually adding cooking liquid back to the beans until your desired consistency is reached. I have added 1.5 cups of cooking liquid.
- Instant pot Refried beans are ready.
- Garnish it with chopped tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro and cheese. Enjoy!
For No-soak Method.
- Heat oil in the inner pot of IP.
- Now add bay leaves, garlic, and onion. Saute for a few seconds.
- Now add washed pinto beans, 6 cups of water, salt, chili powder, cumin powder, and taco seasoning.
- Press manual/pressure button for 50 minutes under high pressure, vent valve set on sealing position.
- Follow the remaining steps, from number 9 to 14.
Video
Notes
There is one more way of cooking the refried beans in Instant Pot.
- First, boil the beans in instant pot.
- Then drain the water in a separate bowl.
- Mash the beans with a blender.
- Turn on saute mode, Heat oil in an IP, add bay leaves, garlic, and onion.
- Saute for few seconds, add mashed beans and all the seasoning. Add some cooking liquid.
- Cook them on saute mode for about 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
Nutrition
Pin It For Later –
You forgot to say to remove bay leaves before blending.
The first ingredient in the No Soak Method is add soaked beans.
Please clarify.
Thanks.
Terry
Washed beans, not soaked beans. It’s a typo. Sorry for the confusion.
I would love to make these but I can’t believe how many calories for one cup.
I didn’t realize beans are that calorie dense.
Thank you for the great recipes.